Every point a winner for MorariuPlaying tennis a bonus after surviving cancer

NEW HAVEN  Corina Morariu doesnt for a second take for granted the privileged lifestyle being a WTA Tour player has afforded her.

Jason York

Published
12:00 am EDT, Sunday, August 17, 2003

And it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact she has won Grand Slam titles in both womens and mixed doubles. Nor does it have anything to do with her $1.2 million in career earnings, free clothing from adidas, plus racquets and equipment.

Morarius perspective on life, and how much she loves it, is crystallized by the fact that shes a cancer survivor.

Morariu, 25, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in May, 2001. Its in remission now, and she has cleared every three-month checkup over the past 18 months.

While shes slowly rebuilding her once promising tennis career, Morariu  once the top-ranked doubles player in the world and ranked as high as No. 29 singles  is thankful for a second chance. The pain and trauma of fighting for her life, however, is still close to the surface.

"That fire and that drive is still in there," Morariu said. "I feel like I fight just as hard when Im out there, if not harder, because I appreciate it and Im happy to be out there. I still want to succeed, but when its all over, I realize there are more important things in life and I can walk away from it and put it in perspective."

Morariu, now ranked 219th in the world, can handle losing a tennis match, like her first-round qualifying draw loss at the Pilot Pen to Emmanuelle Gagliardi in the three sets Saturday. Gagliardi rallied 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.

"There are a lot more important things in life than winning and losing tennis matches," Morariu said.

In May 2001, when Morariu first found out she had leukemia, it was devastating news. The daughter and sister of prominent physicians, she suddenly was whisked into a world where death, unfortunately, stalked her.

"My brother, the first month I was in the hospital, spent every night with me," Morariu said. "Its an unbelievably scary time just fighting for your life and then trying to figure what medications (to take) and what the disease is and your chances (for survival)."

Her parents and brother, however, took the pressure off Morariu to figure things out for herself. They could boil down the complex medical terminology in seconds.

After a year of intense chemotherapy, Morariu began to work toward returning to the WTA Tour. It began last summer with a tournament appearance in California and a wild-card entry into the U.S. Open. Morariu drew eventual champion Serena Williams in the first round and lost in straight sets, but she returned nonetheless.

In August 2001, the United States Tennis Association flew Morariu to New York for the U.S. Open. She wore a scarf to hide the hair she had lost during her treatments and was just able to focus on tennis again for a couple of days. That meant a lot to Morariu, as did a second-straight wild card to the U.S. Open this year.

Shes had problems with injuries over the past year, including shoulder surgery last December that sidelined her until May, and a knee injury that has curtailed her summer schedule until last week.

Shell play in the main draw of the Pilot Pen doubles this week with Cara Black of Zimbabwe and that will serve as the remainder of her U.S Open preparation. In retrospect, it doesnt matter, because Morariu is up to any challenge. She already kicked cancers behind, and no shoulder surgery, nagging knee problem or top-rated tennis player is going to give her a tougher assignment than that.

"I wouldnt change it for the world," Morariu said. "I wake up in the morning and Im thankful for everything that I have and things that generally people take for granted. Its a nice feeling."